You’ve decided to take the plunge and switch from MailChimp to AWeber. Congrats! You’re one of the many who have decided that they want to try something new. It’s always nice when someone decides to leave their comfort zone (in this case, email marketing) and try something new, especially since you’re entering a crowded space. That being said, you need to be aware of some of the differences between the two platforms. Let’s dive into comparing the two.
Features
When it comes to the features of your email marketing software, you’ll notice that AWeber is slightly ahead of MailChimp. First off, AWeber has a built-in landing page creator. This means that you don’t have to go searching for a template or use one of their canned replies when you want to create an auto-responder for a sales channel or blog post. With MailChimp, you’ll have to use a third-party tool to create a landing page (and even then, it’s not very easy to create a nice-looking template).
However, MailChimp does offer something that AWeber doesn’t: email content targeting. You can target your content to users based on their interests, demographics, and psychological data.
Furthermore, MailChimp allows you to engage with your audience through push notifications, dynamic content, and more. If you’re looking to grow your email list, MailChimp is the clear choice.
Interface
The dashboard of your email marketing software will determine how easy it is to use. From a users perspective, the interface of MailChimp is slightly more convenient and simpler to use. As you’d expect, AWeber takes a more sophisticated approach, creating a sense of beauty and craftsmanship in their design.
Depending on your needs, you can adjust the amount of information you want to see on one screen. At the default setting, you’ll see several important metrics such as opens, clicks, and unsubscribes (if you’re using opt-in for your email list).
User Experience (UX)
UX is an overall experience that you have when using a product or service. When someone decides to switch from MailChimp to AWeber, the first thing they’ll be concerned about is how easy it is to use the platform. The UI of MailChimp is simpler, faster, and more convenient compared to AWeber.
However, with greater functionality comes a greater level of complexity. If you’re not familiar with UX, it’s a good idea to take some time to read up on the subject. Learning about UX will help you choose products that are simple enough for everyone to use but offer enough functionality for advanced users to enjoy.
Communication
Email is still one of the most effective ways of staying in touch with customers and potential customers. As a business owner, it’s your job to keep track of all communication related to your company. To do this, you can setup automated email responses from within MailChimp.
You can choose to have these replies come from you or a different person. You can even choose to have them come from a third party if you’re feeling super fancy! You can set these responses to be generated based on a variety of triggers – including customer behavior (such as purchasing a product or requesting information).
If you decide that you want to stay organized and have a record of all of your company’s communication, then MailChimp is the clear choice. Aside from being able to set automated responses, you can set the email account that the replies come from and monitor the conversation. This gives you complete control over all of your company’s email communication. If this sounds like a feature that might be useful, then don’t hesitate to give it a try!
Content
Like we mentioned above, the content of your emails will determine how effective they are. When someone decides to switch from MailChimp to AWeber, the first thing they’ll be concerned about is creating compelling content.
The good thing about AWeber is that they have an in-house team of writers who are available to create compelling content for you. Depending on your industry, you might not always have the time to come up with the content yourself. When this is the case, AWeber can help you out by providing you with compelling content that will attract and retain your audience.
Furthermore, the content creators at AWeber are actually paid based on the results of their work, which means that they’ll put in the extra effort to make sure that your messages reach your audience and keep them interested in your content.
Security
Data security has become a huge concern in recent years, especially due to the increased adoption of mobile devices. The more data that you have stored on a mobile device the more at risk it becomes of being hacked or compromised. If you host your email on a third-party server, then it’s also at risk of being hacked. This is why IT admins and security experts always recommend that businesses move away from hosting email on their servers and towards the cloud. The cloud allows you to keep all of your business’ data securely stored online and accessible from any device.
However, we don’t always have the luxury of moving towards the cloud. If you decide that you still want to use a third-party server for your email, then you’ll need to make sure that they’re up-to-date with the latest security measures. The best way to do this is by having an in-house security expert check their servers regularly.
Cost
MailChimp is a free service. Similarly, AWeber offers a paid subscription plan that costs $5 per month. The good thing about AWeber is that they offer a free plan as well as a pro plan. This means that even if you’re just getting started, you have options. You can either choose to go with the free plan or you can upgrade to the pro plan at any time. This approach usually works great for businesses since they can always choose when and if they want to upgrade.
The bottom line is that MailChimp and AWeber are both effective email marketing platforms. You don’t need to choose one over the other. Instead, you can use the combination of the two and see which one works best for your business.